Jump to content

[TR] Northern Picket Range- Surviving the Fence (N


JoshK

Recommended Posts

Climb: Northern Picket Range-Surviving the Fence (N Picket full ridge traverse)

 

Date of Climb: 7/16/2005

 

Trip Report:

FOR IMMEDIATE AND PREMATURE RELEASE

 

Seattle, WA - On July 16, 2005 Wayne Wallace and Josh Kaplan completed the Northern Picket Range summit ridge traverse, also known as the "Cascade Nonfecta." Sponsering and recording the event was their chief sponsor, "Uncage the Bowels." UTB coordinated the timing effort, hiring experts from Mountaineering Inc. to make sure the effort was "official." The final time came in shortly less than 6 days. In the highest standard of UTB productions and mountainspeedclimbing.org records it must be disclosed that the two elite alpine mountain endurance speed climbers did not operate the speedboat used to travel ross lake.

 

For additional information please contact Uncage the Bowels productions.

 

 

Summits: Luna -> E Fury -> W Fury -> Swiss -> Spectre -> Phantom -> Ghost -> Crooked Thumb -> Challenger

 

Gear Notes:

Used:

60m 8.1mm half rope

50m 7mm perlon rap line

BD firstlight tent ghetto-rigged with skipoles instead of real poles

super light bivy gear

1 akpine hammer each

medium alpine rack

 

Should have had:

I should have had rain gear like Wayne did.

 

Approach Notes:

Used Access Creek for approach and Eiely-Wiley Ridge for the deproach.

Edited by jon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 43
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

I'm working on the pics smile.gif I can't find a damn card reader for SD cards at my parents house tho!

 

The moral of the story, compared to last time, is that the ridge just "works" going East to West (as we did this time) sooooo much better than the other way. This time we were climbing UP the good terrain for climbing and rapping the crap, versus the other way. From Luna to East Fury is easy, as most all of the way is the same as the standard Fury high route approach. From East Fury to West Fury things got interesting. TONS of 3rd and 4th class, almost all of it loose, some super scary lose was to be had. There were also bits of low fifth scattered here at there. Getting off West Fury was probably the most interesting downward section of the trip. We ended up doing a double rope rappel down a nearly vertical wall. It was the most intimidating rappel I have ever done, and I think Wayne thought the same thing. Swiss is actually the easiest peak. It can be climbed via 2nd and 3rd class but there is still definitely exposure. The character of the ridge made distinctly changed from Ghost on. Ghost has several short pitches of mid fifth on very reasonable rock. We found the same on Crooked Thumb and Challenger from that direction was quite fun too. What made it interesting was doing the last two hours of Challenger, including several technical spots, in the rain, with some ice pellets mixed in for good measure. shocked.gif

 

I will write up a full TR (I need to remind myself of all the lows and highs anyway.) when I get my pictures and some sleep. smile.gif

 

 

As for your question, Blake - we scrutinized every ounce since we had to haul the stuff over so much climbing. The rap rope actually saved like a pound and a half. We only wanted (needed, rather) one rope because we simul-climbed everything we didn't solo with the exception of maybe 4 belayed pitches and we guessed (correctly) we wouldn't need to make any full rope lead-follow pitches. BTW, great job on your climb too! bigdrink.gif

Edited by JoshK
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the Official Records, I hope you were wearing a heart rate monitor, have GPS tracks (within 1m of accuracy), and have a real time vidoegraphy, along with photos in 5 foot increments in both analogue and digital format. We're all ready to back up your submissions to Alpinist, Climbing, and Rock and Ice when you provide the data with an audit trail maintained by an independant 3rd party. Well done, but we'll need to see the information before we can raise the freak flag for you. rockband.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here are some pictures of our Northern Pickets traverse. I still have to go through them and figure out what pictures are from what parts of the ridge because without context they can pretty much be anywhere along there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2450Northern_Pickets_Topo.JPG

 

2450CIMG0284.jpg

 

2450CIMG0286.jpg

 

2450CIMG0299.jpg

 

2450CIMG0306.jpg

 

2450CIMG0365.jpg

 

2450CIMG0368.jpg

 

2450CIMG0370.jpg

 

2450CIMG0376.jpg

 

2450CIMG0379.jpg

 

2450CIMG0380.jpg

 

2450CIMG0383.jpg

 

2450CIMG0385.jpg

 

2450CIMG0386.jpg

 

2450CIMG0395.jpg

 

2450CIMG0397.jpg

 

2450CIMG0399.jpg

 

2450CIMG0405.jpg

 

2450CIMG0406.jpg

 

2450CIMG0408.jpg

 

2450CIMG0414.jpg

 

2450CIMG0415.jpg

 

2450CIMG0415.jpg

 

2450CIMG0426.jpg

 

 

2450CIMG0432.jpg

 

2450CIMG0434.jpg

 

2450CIMG0435.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right on, guys!

 

The way that photo of the campsite was taken from above makes it look like the tent was pitched on a severe slope.

 

Josh didn't bring his raingear for a multi-day climb of the rain fence? Duh. Should have known better. Wayne obviously did.

 

You really get around, Josh. Chiwawa summit register yesterday: JoshK, July 9, 2005 (the last entry before Stefan's and mine).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In all fairness, in the end, Wayne and I were both equally wet smile.gif

 

That bivy was what we nick named "Ice Station Zebra". We built a rock "patio" inside the windlip of a glacier right below the ridge. The lip was very steep but the area we camped in was flat. It was a coooold bivy, hence the nickname. It did, however, turn out to be the right place to bivy. There was nothing remotely flat for a looong time after that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gosh what a fun trip that was, Great to see the pics too. Truly it was my "Wildest Dreams " to have finished this traverse. I didnt think it would be fun after my last attempt, but it was when we switched directions on the way we went. Josh was a solid partner and we laughed so much during the trip dispite the intense circumstances we faced.What a way to make a friend. We have only met the 2 times we were on this ridge together,but it seems we have been friends forever. He probably associates me with massive pain!

Sorry we dont have a tr together yet . I will get to it in a few days as will Josh too , Thanks, Wayne

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, as Wayne alluded to, it really makes a difference who you climb with, esp. if the anxiety index gets up there! It was damn fun, and I think we have a strange or funny name for practically everything we encountered along the way. hahaha.gif

 

-josh bigdrink.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I've got some, unfortunately the areas where the views to the S pickets are best (on the E-W trending part of the ridge, between Luna, and the W Fury/Phantom area) was where we were climbing in what was basically a whiteout. I'm going through all of these pics and I'll see what I can find. fruit.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...